Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 1 December 2020.
Well, my message to those businesses is that despite all the efforts that they have made—and I recognise the enormous efforts that so many businesses have made—we continue to face a public health emergency here in Wales. And that despite those efforts and everything else that has been done, the number of people infected with coronavirus in Wales is going up every day, and that is translating itself, inevitably, into more people occupying hospital beds in Wales, more people needing critical care and more people losing their lives. That is the inescapable context in which the decision is made.
And, having said that to people, that this is a public health emergency in which we have to act to protect lives that can be saved and which would otherwise be lost, I would say to them that we have mobilised the most generous package of support for that industry anywhere in the United Kingdom—£340 million that will be used to assist that industry through the very difficult weeks that lie ahead. I understand that the Prime Minister has announced £40 million today for the whole of England for the hospitality industry. There will be £340 million available here in Wales alone. And that is the other thing that I would say to those industries, that the help that they will get from the Welsh Government will be the best available anywhere in the United Kingdom.